Foreword

Last year, the Congress
requested that an independent commission be formed to review the National
Imagery and Mapping Agency, or NIMA. This report documents the commission's
finding and recommendations, some of which need to be addressed by the
defense and intelligence leadership, and others by NIMA.

This is a commission
of which I am proud. For almost ten months, our nine commissioners, richly
experienced and with a set of diverse perspectives drawn from government
and industry, worked hard to understand NIMA, including its management
and organizations, technology development and acquisition strategies,
and its business practices. They focused intensely on NIMA's large and
diverse customer base, to understand where NIMA is performing well and
where it might perform better. Finally, the commission endeavored to analyze
and understand NIMA's future, whether to critically assess the current
vision, or to suggest other paths that might be more wisely taken.

We had the benefit
of considerable input along the way. Thousands of written documents, hours
of briefings, and the attention of many senior Department of Defense and
Intelligence Community officials provided candid inputs for our consideration.
A diverse set of industry participants gave us a look at current technology
and management practices and how NIMA might take advantage of these to
best do their mission. Various Commissioners visited Denver, St. Louis,
Tampa, and Omaha, and to NIMA representatives supporting U.S. forces in
the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy.

This Commission represents
the most recent inquiry into NIMA, one which followed a Defense Science
Board study covering many of the same topics. The Commission tried to
build on previous studies and where appropriate expand on some of the
ideas.

NIMA's mission is
complex and daunting. Strong leadership support from both Intelligence
and Defense as well as timely implementation of the enclosed recommendations
is essential if NIMA is to meet the needs of the national security community
in the coming years.